The Early Childhood
Family Engagement Framework:
Maryland’s Vision for Engaging Families
with Young Children
Chair: Margaret E. Williams, Maryland Family Network
MSDE Liaison and Project Officer: Linda Zang
MSDE Staff Specialists: Wendy Baysmore and Cynthia LaMarca-Lessner
Broad statewide membership (public and private):
Maryland Ready At Five
CentroNia
Judy Center Partnerships
Public Library Assoc.
UM School of Medicine
PTA
MD Coalition of Families
School Districts
American Association of Pediatrics
Head Start
Maryland Child Care Assoc.
MSDE
Dept. of Health and Mental Health
Dept. of Human Resources
Why Develop the Family
Engagement Initiative?
Proposed as Project 8 of Maryland’s RTT–ELC grant, it was developed to highlight the
importance of family engagement as a core area of early childhood that promotes
school readiness
 The MD Family Engagement Coalition was formed to:
 Bring together representatives of family and child serving agencies to oversee the Family
Engagement Initiative
 Better coordinate the state’s family engagement initiatives, and to create a set of common
goals for the allocation of family engagement resources across the early childhood system
 Support family and child serving agencies to improve how families are engaged in their
child’s early care and education
 Promote family engagement strategies at the program and provider level and to highlight
available resources that support the implementation of those family engagement
strategies
 The Coalition started its work by examining national Family Engagement practices
Definition of Family Engagement
Definition of Family Engagement

Family Engagement is:



A shared responsibility of families, schools, and
communities
Continuous from birth into the school-age years
Sustainable, operating with adequate resources to
ensure meaningful and effective strategies that have
the power to impact student learning and
achievement
Definition of Family Engagement

Family Engagement Means:


Supporting family well-being, strong parentchild relationships, and the ongoing learning
and development of parents and children
alike
Family Engagement Encompasses:

Beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and activities
Head Start Partnership (HS & DOE)
Head Start Framework
Department of Education
Alignment (DOE & HS)
Organization of the MD Framework
Organization of the Framework

Articulates a common definition of family engagement

Outlines common goals for family engagement
applicable to the state and to programs/providers
Offers general strategies to support the goals
Includes resources to support the implementation of the
strategies
Provides examples of family engagement practices in
Maryland



MD Framework Uses the 7 Goals of the
Head Start Framework

See Next Slide
The Framework Provides Strategies
Providing Strategies for the Framework

The document will outline several strategies
organized by program foundation area and
program impact area

Program Foundation Area (How they are
affected)

Program Impact Area (Who was affected?)
Strategy- Program Foundation

Leadership


Develop relationships with community
members and community organizations that
support families’ interests and needs
Professional Development

Provide training on multicultural principles,
leadership development, and advocacy for
staff and families
Strategy- Impact Area

Environment


Include family-friendly spaces with pictures and
materials that affirm and welcome all families
Teaching and Learning


Consistently gather child information from families
and ask parents about their child to inform teaching
Exchange information with parents about their
children’s social, emotional, and cognitive
development, and talk about the importance of the
home language
Next Steps
Implementation



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Use Framework to inform other parts of Maryland’s early childhood
system (e.g. EXCELS)
Develop supporting strategies/materials to provide guidance on the
Framework to parents and various types of service providers (child
care, Head Start, home visitors, etc.)
Develop a timeline: Outline to Final
Develop training and technical assistance around key strategies
Explore innovative uses of technology in communicating and
meeting goals (e.g., sharing assessment data)
The Early Childhood
Family Engagement Framework:
Maryland’s Vision for Engaging Families
with Young Children
http://marylandpublicschools.org/msde.html
http://marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/divisio
ns/child_care/challenge/engagement.html